


Elite

by honestgrins



Series: To Rely on the Kindness of Strangers [50]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 01:45:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7825372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt from NikMik: in the spirit of olympics...i used to watch "make it or break it", a show about gymnastics. summer used to date one of the rich dads at the gym & is now gym manager. she is a devout christian who does things by the book. sasha is the coach who is tough & has his own way of doing things. things get a little tense between the 2 which leads to a make-out sesh. she tries to distance herself from him but they eventually start dating in secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Elite

"Are you sure this is an office?" Caroline looked around the cluttered room, unconvinced. "I can't imagine you managed to get any work done in here."

"Whatever, neat freak," Katherine muttered. She was busy with something on her phone, and Caroline tried not to be annoyed at her friend's rudeness. After all, it was Kat who put her up for the job in the first place. "I just wrote the checks to keep the bills paid. Now that you're going to be our full-time gym manager, you can organize this place as you please."

Caroline frowned. "If the gym was doing fine, why do you need to hire me?"

"It's annoying," Katherine snorted, dropping her phone into the designer handbag on her elbow. "I only come to the gym to support Nadia, and I have no desire to interact with this place any more than I have to. Especially since _he_ took over as coach."

Rolling her eyes, Caroline prepared herself for Kat's usual rant. Apparently, her brother-in-law was some rebel without a cause in the world of elite gymnastics, famously disgraced from the sport as a competitor nearly fifteen years earlier. When Nadia finally made her gym's elite squad, though, Kat's husband all but dragged the ne'er-do-well brother back to coach their daughter to Olympic potential.

Kat put up with it for Nadia, but she made no apologies for openly despising her "asshole of a brother-in-law." The parents' association at the gym had been looking for a full-time manager anyway, so she suggested Caroline for the position in her stead.

They had known each other for a couple of years, through Kat's charitable organization supporting single mothers. Caroline had been engaged to a senator's son, and she played the perfect role of a politician's wife by getting involved in several local groups. Meeting Kat was a breath of fresh air, without the fake smiles or overly-polite conversations. Since breaking her engagement to Tyler last month, Caroline had lost nearly all of her society friends except for Kat. The sudden need for her own income also happened to suit Kat's desire to give up her gym duties.

While the job sounded great to Caroline, she did worry about the coach himself. Klaus Mikaelson hadn't been at any of her interviews with the parents' association, nor had he stopped by the office at all. She wasn't expecting him to decorate or anything for her first day, but Caroline figured an introduction would have been nice.

"Speaking of the coach, shouldn't he be here by now? I don't see the training logs or anything he's supposed to file."

Katherine glanced to her in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh," Caroline said, pulling a thick binder from her tote bag. "When your last gym manager retired, she made a manual of sorts. Compliance with USA Gymnastics, certifications, safety measures, stuff like that. Part of my job would be to compile the requisite paperwork backing up each athlete's training, pertinent records, and adjustments for the organization's standards." At Katherine's blank look, Caroline crossed her arms. "You haven't been keeping up with any of this, have you?"

"I wrote checks to keep the bills paid," Kat repeated, slow and mocking. "You can take everything else up with Klaus." Craning her head to look out the window, she nodded toward the unsightly trailer sitting in the parking lot and the rumpled man leaving it. "There he is now. Have fun, Barbie."

Klaus walked into the gym just as Katherine was leaving. "Go meet your new manager," she ordered in a saccharine voice. "Play nice."

He turned to meet Caroline's eyes through the glass walls of her office, but he merely tipped his head in acknowledgement before continuing on toward the main gym.

"Oh hell no," Caroline mumbled to herself before pasting on a fake smile. "Hi," she called, chasing him down. "I'm Caroline Forbes, the new gym manager. You must be Coach Mikaelson."

"Please, call me Klaus," he said with a charming smirk, though he didn't bother to accept her handshake or even to stop walking away from her. "If you'll excuse me, I have a private training session to start."

"Great," Caroline called louder. "According to the schedule, you should be training with Kai Parker. When you're finished, just come back to my office and fill out the activity log."

Finally, Klaus paused in his stride to face her. "I don't get paid to shuffle the paperwork, sweetheart," he said condescendingly. "I believe that's your job."

"You won't get paid at all if I don't have the paperwork to attach to the Parker invoice that adds the extra hour of gym time and private training," she pointed out. "It might be my first day, but I've already studied up on procedure. So, don't forget that activity log."

"Sure thing," he promised, the thick sarcasm telling Caroline everything she needed to know about his feelings on procedure. "Happy first day, love."

Once again, he tipped his head and walked away.

Biting her lip, Caroline resisted a childish urge to throw her shoe at the back of his head. She rolled her eyes in frustration, but a camera caught her attention. Looking around, she noticed several cameras capturing several angles of the gym. A new plan started to form in her mind, and she quickly set about completely reorganizing her new office so she could get to work.

* * *

Two weeks of going through training footage, and Caroline had barely made a dent in the backlogged reports she needed to finish. While she had gone above and beyond to ensure Klaus's input, he had yet to return any of the activity sheets she stuffed in his duffel bag, taped to his trailer door, or even slipped into the pockets of his jacket.

He would take the time to flirt with her, or flagrantly throw away her helpful notes; still, he refused to actually give her any effort toward the assignment at hand.

Caroline had too much experience with a negligent fiance and useless volunteers to deal with the flippant behavior much longer.

Working on the last of Nadia's tapes, Caroline realized it was time to lock up for the night. She glanced up to see Klaus wiping down some of the equipment, but the gym was empty otherwise. Sensing her opportunity, she jumped out of her chair. "Klaus!"

"Go home, love," he dismissed, as though it were his duty to determine when she worked. "We're done for the day."

"Training might be done, but we most certainly are not," she declared. "I've been working my ass off to make up for the missing reports, but you owe me two weeks of activity logs. It's super easy, just give me twenty minutes at the end of each day."

Klaus arched an eyebrow in interest. "I'm not sure twenty minutes will be enough," he teased, stepping toward her.

She choked out a laugh; the man had barely spared her any attention, and he expected her to just fall for his charming act. "For the record, I'm too smart to be seduced by you," she stated. "And I'm not interested anyway. All I want is for you to take twenty minutes out of your day so I can help you do your job."

He froze, cocking his head in irritation. "My job," he seethed, "is to mold these athletes into something worthy of the world stage. Paperwork means nothing if they can't master their skills."

"It means everything if they get discounted by the organization because of undocumented training regimens," Caroline spat. She pressed her hands together, holding them up to her lips in an effort to control her anger. "I'm sorry for snapping, but I have a hard time believing you actually care about this team when you ignore the paperwork that justifies their rankings."

"Rankings are only official after a competition," he reasoned tersely. "Proven ability is all that counts, the paperwork shouldn't matter-"

"And yet, it does!"

They were both surprised at Caroline's infuriated outburst, though she was far beyond apologies at that point. "I am trying to make this a painless process for you," she sighed. "I have been glued to past footage for two weeks, just so you don't have to think back and document everything from memory." Taking a deep breath, she just felt tired. "These kids are amazing at what they do, and I can see how you bring the best out of them. I can help you with the boring side of business, but I need you to meet me halfway. Please."

Klaus gave her a hard look, but he nodded after a moment of consideration. "Let me finish up here, I'll meet you in the office."

Barely restraining herself from bouncing on her toes, Caroline settled for a relieved smile. "Great. Great." She whirled around, already wondering at the possibilities of getting ahead in her work, but she noticed the oddest expression on Klaus's face as she turned away.

He was almost smiling.

* * *

Twenty minutes a day, that was all she asked of him.

As the weeks wore on, though, their late-night meetings often went past the twenty-minute mark. Businesslike conversation would give way to daily anecdotes, to personal stories and life philosophies. She spoke of her failed engagement, he of his scandalized career. Each night, it grew more difficult to part ways.

"Hungry, love?"

Distracted from the bills she had been organizing, Caroline looked up to see an expectant Klaus. "What? We still need to go over today's training reports."

"Yes, but I'm starving," he said.

Caroline couldn't blame him; she had carefully watched him demonstrate some skills on the trampoline for one of the younger classes just that afternoon. Even at his advanced age for the sport, his body was still lean and limber. Shaking her head, she was a bit lost in her thoughts. "What?" she asked again.

He chuckled, grabbing her hand to pull her up from the desk chair. "You're obviously delirious from a lack of food," he said. He lead her out of the gym toward his trailer. "We can discuss the day's work over dinner."

"You think you're so smooth," she laughed to herself, though she let him guide her into his home. Glancing around, Caroline was surprised at how tidy the place was. "I had you pegged for the slovenly type."

"I cleaned up just for you," he answered with a wink. "I hope you like shrimp."

As Klaus busied himself with a rice cooker, Caroline took the opportunity to snoop. She found a notebook sitting open on the couch, shocked to find her face on the first page. "Did you draw this?"

He didn't face her. "That depends," he hedged. "Do you hate it?"

Sitting down, she pulled the sketchbook toward her for further consideration. "It's beautiful," she said quietly.

"You're beautiful," he countered, turning slightly to fix her with a dark gaze. Coughing, he focused back on the food.

Caroline watched as he prepared their dinner, smiling when his movements turned fidgety with the attention. Moving to stand behind him, she leaned up to whisper into his ear. "Do I make you nervous?"

Smirking, he turned again to meet her face just over his shoulder. "I know you're a perfectionist, love," he whispered back. "I'm just doing my best to meet your exacting standards."

Sneaking her hand around his waist, she turned on the rice cooker without breaking their eye contact. "Hmm," she hummed. "I wonder what we could do while we wait for the food to be ready?"

Klaus had turned and lifted her into his arms before she could kiss him, though he more than made up for it once he had her in the bedroom.

Caroline was only slightly mortified to be caught leaving the trailer early the next morning. Kat finally stopped rubbing it in Caroline's face when Nadia made the national team. "Only because you made Klaus remotely tolerable as a coach," she decided. "At least when he eventually proposes to you, I won't mind the family connection so much."


End file.
